Beto O’Rourke Endorses Eliminating Protections For Social Media Companies

2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke came out in support of eliminating existing protections for tech giants Friday, joining a growing chorus of political elites aiming to break up big tech.

The former Texas congressman, who restarted his presidential campaign once again this week, said he wants to get rid of protections guaranteed to social media companies under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which Congress passed in 1996 to ban “hateful activities” on social media platforms.

Section 230 protects social media companies from being liable for what users post on their websites, making the tech giants only liable for what the companies themselves post on the platforms.

Some experts predict that without such protection, large platforms would be far more aggressive in their algorithms to block content.

Other prominent power players in Washington on both sides of the aisle have already called for removing Section 230’s protections.